1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer systems, and more particularly but not exclusively to computer networks.
2. Description of the Background Art
As is well known, computers belonging to a computer network may send data to one another. In addition, with ever expanding network structures and Internet connectivity, all sorts of network components and computing devices have access to each other. Unfortunately, some use this increased connectivity to quickly and easily spread malicious content, such as viruses and worms, to other devices. Further, viruses can be launched and spread even from within relatively secure private networks.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a schematic illustration of a conventional network arrangement for a wafer fabrication application is shown and indicated by the general reference character 100. In this example, Network 102 may be a private corporate intranet supporting wafer fabrication (“fab”) equipment. Computing devices supporting various processing machines can include Wafer Fab Device 104 and Wafer Fab Device 106. Even though Network 102 can be considered relatively secure, a person may be able to simply plug in a computer, such as Laptop Device 108, that is infected with a virus. If this occurs, absent other protection, the virus can spread through Network 102 and to Wafer Fab Device 104 and Wafer Fab Device 106, as shown.
Accordingly, each component (e.g., “device,” “agent,” “computer,” “machine,” or “appliance”) on the network must have some sort of virus protection in order to avoid becoming victimized by viruses from other network components. In particular, high availability devices, such as wafer fab, bank ATM machines, some medical, and some security devices, are especially vulnerable because these devices cannot typically be taken off-line or turned-off to allow for patch updates to any virus protection software.